Predominantly Black Charters Focus of Debate in N.C.

When North Carolina lawmakers opened the door to charter schools in
1996, critics predicted a rush of "white flight" schools would
follow.

It seems precisely the opposite has happened. Of the 33 charters
that are up and running, a dozen have student populations that are more
than 85 percent black.

Many state charter school supporters say that as long as the schools
produce positive academic results--and do not not intentionally block
students based on their race--those figures should not be cause for
alarm.

But North Carolina law suggests otherwise, and a debate has ensued
over whether--or how--the racial-balance provision of the charter
school law should be enforced. State policymakers have spent months
trying to resolve the issue in a legal and political climate that looks
with growing suspicion at policies drawn on the basis of race or
ethnicity.

While many states' charter laws aim to encourage racial diversity,
North Carolina's is relatively prescriptive, experts say. Neighboring
South Carolina, which has one of the nation's strictest racial-balance
rules for its charter schools, has confronted similar issues. ("Racial Makeup at Issue In S.C. Charter
Debate," April 30, 1997.)

North Carolina law says that within a year after a charter opens,
its enrollment "shall reasonably reflect" the racial and ethnic
composition of the general population within the countywide district
boundaries or the district's racial and ethnic composition.

Supporters fear the state's predominantly black charter schools may
be forced to close. "It's a scary and confusing time for these
schools," said Roger A. Gerber, the president of the Association of
North Carolina Charter Schools.

'Fear of Resegregation'

For now, the state's charter schools are operating against a
shifting landscape.

In July, the state school board voted to allow a statewide charter
school advisory committee to determine on a school-by-school basis
whether a charter school's racial imbalance is justified and what
action, if any, the state should take.

The Raleigh-based North Carolina Foundation for Individual Rights, a
conservative nonprofit legal group, plans to file a lawsuit to block
the state from enforcing the law's racial-balance provision.

And a bill is moving through the legislature that would soften the
provision to require only that schools make a "good faith effort"
toward achieving diversity.

But both critics and supporters of the proposed change say it is
unlikely to survive the legislative process.

While the state wrestles with the issue, charter schools are not
sure what, if any, steps to take as the next school year approaches,
said Jack Daly, the executive director of the legal group challenging
the state law.

He points to one such school that last year held separate enrollment
lotteries for blacks and whites in order to strike racial balance. Such
action amounts to an illegal racial quota system, he contends.

State board President Phillip J. Kirk Jr. said he opposes shutting
down the charter schools and points out that there are nearly all-white
or all-black traditional public schools in the state.

"I don't think charters were intended to resegregate the schools,"
he said.

Jane P. Norwood, a state board member and a professor at Appalachian
State University's school of education in Boone, said she is undecided
on the issue.

"I have a definite fear of resegregation. I am old enough to
remember 'separate but equal' in this state," she said. "But I believe
in freedom of choice to a certain extent. It's a real
dilemma."

Seeking 'Good Schools'

A recent U.S. Department of Education study found that most charter
schools are similar to their districts' racial and ethnic breakdowns,
but about a third are more likely to serve minority students.

Close to 49 percent of North Carolina's charter school students are
black. In the state's public schools as a whole, 31 percent of students
are black.

Roughly half a dozen of the state's charter schools are
predominantly white, but many reflect their surrounding communities in
the rural western areas of the state, according to Grova L. Bridgers,
who oversees charter schools for the state education department.

Experts point to myriad reasons for the high percentage of
African-Americans in charter schools, too. Many of the predominantly
black charter schools are in majority-black neighborhoods in large
cities like Raleigh and Durham, and some were launched by black
community leaders.

"People aren't fleeing the public schools because of race," Mr.
Gerber said. "They're fleeing to what they think are good schools. And
they are unsatisfied with what they've been getting in traditional
public schools."

Balancing Goals

Tom Williams, the director of Healthy Start Academy, said that when
the school organizers wrote their charter, they never expected they
would draw anything but a mixed student population. But the search for
an affordable building led them to a poor and mostly black neighborhood
in Durham.

Although the organizers tried to talk the 40 white students who had
signed up last year into staying, they all withdrew, he said.

The vast majority of Healthy Start students come from the
neighborhood. Of the 320 pupils in grades K-3, four are white. Mr.
Williams said he hopes that more white families will give the school a
chance once they see the students' impressive test gains.

But the former New York state school administrator, who is white,
said his top priority--and his parents' priority--is a high-quality
education. True integration, he argued, comes from the upward economic
mobility gained through education. "I hear parents say: 'My kid is
reading a year above grade level. And I don't care whether he's sitting
next to a white student or not.'"

Vol. 17, Issue 43, Page 22

Published in Print: August 5, 1998, as Predominantly Black Charters Focus of Debate in N.C.

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